Eden (34 page)

“
This isn’t just our
decision,” I said quietly.  “This affects all of them too,” I
said as I indicated those waiting on the trailer for us.  “We
have to let them decide as well.”

Avian and West looked up
to those who were watching us silently.  Their faces were
anxious looking, mixes of hope and fear on their faces.  They
could read what was written on the sign as well as I
could.

“
What do all of you
think?” Avian said as he took a few steps toward them.  “I
assume you heard everything we said.”

No one spoke up at first
and I sensed they were afraid to voice their
opinions. 

“
Tuck,” I called on
him.  He jumped slightly at being directly addressed. 
“What do you think?”

“
I…” he stuttered. 
“It is dangerous, but if there really are people there I think we
have to go.”

“
No, we don’t,” Tess, the
newcomer, spoke up loudly.  “Like Eve said, this is
suicide!  Have any of you ever been to a city?  We have,
and it’s been years.  It’s bound to have gotten
worse.”

“
Eli?” I asked when Tess
was finished.

He glanced at Morgan where
she stood at his side.  “I’m not willing to risk putting my
family in danger, but if there are some willing to go into the city
on scout, I’m willing to change course.  It could only be
temporary.  I trust the three of you to keep us
safe.”

The majority of the heads
in our group nodded, much to my surprise.  Maybe they did
still trust me with their lives, even if they knew what I was
now.

“
Let’s put it to a vote
then,” Avian said, putting his hands on his hips.  “All those
in favor of changing course and hiding out while some of us scout
the area, raise your hand.”

Every hand but mine, Tess
and Van’s went up.

“
That’s the majority,”
Avian said with a nod.  He turned his intense blue eyes on me,
his brow furrowed with mixed emotions.  “Are you going to be
with us Eve, if we change course?  Would you go with the
scouting party?”

I glared at him. 
Where had my cautious Avian gone to?  Who was this daring risk
taker?

“
Of course I will go with
you,” I said, my jaw tight.  “If anyone is going into the city
I
have
to go with
them.  There’s no other option.  I’m the only one that
can’t get infected.”

The smallest of a smile
formed in the corner of his mouth but I didn’t miss it.  I
almost returned it.

“
Alright,” Avian said,
clapping his hands together.  “Everyone get ready to go. 
We’ll get our new destination mapped out and get going as soon as
we can.  We’ve still got a few hours of darkness
left.”

Avian’s instructions were
unneeded as no one but the three of us had anything to prep. 
They were already set to go.

“
Crazy idiot,” I muttered
under my breath as we turned back to the map.  Avian just gave
me a smug smile as he started drawing on the map.

A few minutes later we all
loaded up, heading out west on the crumbled highway.

“
We’ll find somewhere safe
to hide everyone for a few days at least,” Avian said as he
squinted against the wind that blew in his face.  “If
everything goes smooth, we’ll get everyone settled in the morning,
get some sleep, and then the three of us will head into the city
tomorrow night.”

“
I’d like to come too,
sir, if that’s alright with you,” Tuck said from the driver’s
seat.

West chuckled and Avian
couldn’t seem to help himself as he cracked a smile.  I
wondered if anyone had ever called Avian “sir”.  “That’s up to
you.  You seem competent enough with a gun.  If you’re
willing to take the risk you’re welcome to come.”

Tuck just
nodded.

“
But what if they need
you?” I asked as I glanced at those who were resting around
me.  “A lot could go wrong.”

Avian’s eyes swept over
them and I saw that he had already been having this argument with
himself.  “I have to go where I think I am most needed. 
In twenty-four hours that will be in the city.  Right now I’m
most valuable as a scout, not an ill-trained doctor.”

I held his eyes for a
while, wanting to argue with him but knowing I didn’t have any
ground to stand on.  As much as I didn’t like it, he was
right.  The likelihood that something would happen just as
soon as Avian was unavailable was not very high.  It was still
too possible though.

“
I’m assuming you will be
coming with us?” I asked West, who had been unnaturally quiet the
last few hours.

“
Of course,” he said, his
voice almost sounding insulted.  “I’m not going to let you and
Avian have all the fun.”  As soon as the words were out of his
mouth he looked like he wished he could take them back.  “I
mean… uh…”

“
We knew what you meant,”
I cut him off before this moment could grow any more
awkward.

Excitement was tangible in
the air as we drove but the uncertainty was thick enough to cut
through with a knife.

An hour and a half later,
a few looming figures to the south of us drew my attention. 
They almost looked like… giant birds.  “Avian, what are
those?”

He squinted in the
direction I pointed then he raised his rifle to his eye level to
look through the night-vision scope.  “They’re planes,” he
said as he glanced down at the map in his lap.  “This is an
old Air Force base.  Tuck, pull over.”

“
Military?” I asked, my
attention perking.  “They would have weapons inside
somewhere?”

Avian shook his head and
shrugged.  “Maybe.  The base I was stationed at was just
abandoned when things started falling apart.  Who knows what
we’d find in there.”

“
Would we have time to go
take a look around?” West asked.

Avian looked at the map
again.  “We’re making good time.  We should have about an
hour of extra time pretty safe.  You really want to go
inside?  There could be dozens of them in there.”

“
It’s really deserty
around here,” West said as he looked around us.  He was
right.  There wasn’t even sagebrush growing in the cracked
earth.  “It looks like there are only a few buildings for
there to even be anything in.  I doubt this small base
attracted them.”

“
I think West is right,” I
said as I scanned the area.  “It doesn’t seem like a likely
place for Fallen.”

“
Alright,” Avian said as
he nodded.  “Eve, obviously it’s best if you go in. 
We’ll stay here and keep an eye out for if anything
happens.”

“
No way,” West said as he
shook his head.  “I’m not letting her go in there by
herself.”

“
I can take care of
myself,” I said as I rolled my eyes at him.  “I think you
would know that by now.”

“
Even so, I’m not going to
just sit here,” West said as he locked eyes with Avian.  And
the argument over me continued silently.

“
Get over it you two,” I
said in an exasperated tone as I jumped out of the trailer and
started walking toward the looming buildings.  A moment later
another set of feet jumped to the ground and jogged to keep up with
me.

West and I padded silently
across the sand and clay, guns in hand, ready to fire at the
slightest movement.  As we approached the buildings my eyes
grew wide.

“
They’re huge,” I breathed
as I took the size of them in.  The thing just went on and on,
a massive landscape of waved metal.  I had never seen a
building so big.

“
You should have seen the
building we used to live in,” West said, again without
thinking.  I gave him a hard look before he let out an awkward
chuckle.  “Okay, maybe it’s better you don’t remember
it.”

We found a door in the
vastness of the north wall.  It was locked.  I tapped it,
testing its thickness.  “It’s pretty thin,” I said as I
squinted through the dark.  “Ready to see how enhanced I am?”
I chuckled.  West just shook his head and gave me a half
smile.

I punched a hole through
the waved aluminum without too much effort.  A thin scratch
ran down the length of my hand, a few tiny drops of blood dripping
to the ground.  Ignoring it, I reached through and opened the
door from the inside.

The interior of the
building was massive.  Everyone in Eden could have set up
their tents inside and still had plenty of room to be
comfortable.  “They must have put those planes in here,” West
said as he too took our surroundings in.  There were no traces
of any life around, cybernetic or organic.

“
Come on,” I said. 
“Let’s get moving.”

We jogged along the
perimeter of the building, finding a few rooms in one corner. 
One contained a desk, papers and books scattered around the
room.  We found a handgun in one of the drawers and a small
box of ammunition.  The other room was used for storage. 
We found a few pairs of shoes and pairs of pants to bring back with
us.

We went back outside and
jogged to the next building.  It too was locked.  Five
seconds later it wasn’t. 

Proof of West’s theory was
found inside this building.  Through the darkness we could
make out the figure of one of the massive planes.

“
Isn’t that amazing?” West
mused.  “That we used to have control over the sky like
that?  I would have loved to learn to fly one of
those.”

“
Maybe someday you’ll get
your chance,” I whispered as I started along the perimeter of the
building.  We found a kitchen but there was no food left in
it.  It was in the next room we struck gold.

“
Here we go,” I said with
a smirk as I stood in the doorway.

The walls were lined with
all kinds of weaponry.  Handguns, shotguns, things I had never
even seen before but would learn to use shortly.  “Grab
everything you can,” I said, grabbing the nearest menacing looking
piece of destruction and salvation.

I filled my pockets with
ammunition until my pants threatened not to stay on my hips from
the weight.  I grabbed three oblong balls with small pins
stuck in the top.  I wasn’t sure what they would do but if
they were in this room they must have had destructive force. 
I shoved them into one of the pockets at the side of my
knees.

“
What Avian said, about
you only blacking out around me, it’s true, isn’t it?” West said as
he continued to load up.

“
I told you that myself,”
I said as I strapped two guns to the side of my pack.

“
I guess I thought you
were just mad at me before, when you said it, as usual,” he said
quietly as he worked.  “Why do you think that is?”

“
I don’t know,” I said,
feeling a little frustrated.  I just wanted to be doing
something useful and not have to deal with my feelings right
now.

“
Do you think what Avian
said is true?” he asked quietly.  “That feeling those things
kind of… overloads you?”

“
Maybe,” I said as I felt
along an upper shelf.  I pulled down another box of
bullets.  “All of my emotions were supposed to be
blocked.  Now that I’m starting to feel things again I sure
feel like I don’t know how to handle it.”

West was quiet for a while
after that and I could sense all the turmoil he was in.  “I
don’t want to be putting everyone at risk but I don’t know how to
stay away from you, Eve.  I don’t think I can just shut my
feelings for you off.”

I finally fell still at
his words.  “I don’t know how to shut them off either. 
I’m trying to see where the line is between acceptable risk and
feeling alive.”

I heard him walk up behind
me.  I felt his hand on my arm, slowly turning me
around.  I met his brown eyes, alive and dancing in the
darkness.  His hands came to my waist, softly pushing me back
against the wall behind me.

“
I know how I make you
feel, Eve,” he whispered, his lips only an inch away from
mine.  “Does Avian make you feel the same way?”

Before I had a chance to
answer, West pressed his lips to mine.  His entire body molded
against mine.  My pulse skyrocketed, my breath catching in my
throat as West’s lips moved with mine.  I felt as if my body
had exploded, a raging torrent of wanting more, more,
more.

And then the lights went
out.

THIRTY

When I opened my eyes the
sky was starting to lighten, a pale shade of blue and pink. 
The tips of trees surrounded my vision and as I rolled over I was
momentarily confused.  For half a second I thought we were
back in Eden, back home.  But the shape of this lake was
different, the trees a different species, though similar.  And
there were only nine tents instead of a few dozen.

The people of our group
bustled around, finishing setting up the tents, putting their
belongings inside, washing their sweat-crusted clothes out in the
small lake. 

How long had I been out
for?  It must have been a few hours if we had finally left
behind the desert and found a forest.

I sat up, realizing I was
still lying on the trailer.  I shook my head, trying to clear
the fog that felt like it was still nesting in my brain.  It
was then that I spotted West at his tent.  He glanced over at
me and my eyes narrowed at him.  His left eye was surrounded
with a ring of black.